It was almost Independence day at the time of this shoot, so I thought: ‘Why not wear the flag’.

When other countries celebrate Independence, the entire country wears the colors of the flag, those colors become like gold in stores because everyone wants them but I noticed that hardly happens in Nigeria and I’ve always wondered why.

To be honest, I’ve always been a wear the flag type of girl, I actually have a green and white top I’ve had for years that I only wear on October 1st. Turns out some people think wearing the flag is razz; a friend teased me the last time I wore it, I posted a picture and he said “you too” such a heavily laden phrase.

What do you think about wearing the flag for Independence day? Would you do it? (in a fabulous way of course) Let me know in the comment section

All my life I’ve known pink to symbolize femininity, you know the girl – pink / boy – blue cliche which so many have lived by, except the few rebels like me *hehehe*. I recently found out it also symbolizes hope, and we all know we need hope to survive the hustle and bustle of the city.

Putting together these outfits, I realized I do not own any pink item of clothing, if you knew me between 2008 and 2013 you would know how much of a shocking realization this is. Anyway, let me not digress too much and focus on the clothes – the editorial shows style in the city for two types of females: The playful/ fun loving/ bubbly one and The more serious / business minded /mature one because in the city you usually find those there for fun and those there for business.

I selected these outfits because i wanted to channel the sensuality and passion of the color pink, choosing to accessorize with black was mainly to lean away from the innocence the color pink portrays (because looking innocent in the city spells disaster) and to give it more power and a bit of fierceness.

So if you’re looking to get noticed, pink should be on your color choices… not too much though, I read it causes physical weakness *eyes rolling* but who cares I guess, throw on some pink, embrace its aura and walk in confidence.

I’m currently in the middle of a wardrobe change, out with the old and in with the new. This ‘project’ has been eating up a large chunk of my earnings for the past 6 months (not that I’m complaining).

I’m a chronic shopaholic and like every other shopaholic out there, I have a whole bunch of ‘stuff’ but that’s pretty much all that my clothes were….. STUFF! I still found myself running to my sisters closet every time I had a function or a nice date even though i had an over-flowing closet and an over loaded 50 pair shoe rack.

Last year I decided to take practical steps to ensure my wardrobe has everything I need. Note that I said ‘need’ and not want because I really could never have everything I want but I was pretty convinced i could pick out my wardrobe pieces in such a way that it met my needs. Fortunately, the heavens smiled on me and I found an easy way to shop, putting me on this oh so awesome journey to discovering my style identity.

I’m honestly not one of those people that have one word for their style, i always need more than one sentence. The closest I am to defining my style was this quiz i took which defined my style as: ” chic and modern without being overdone. You follow the latest trends but don’t let them dictate what you wear. “

In the last year, I’ve really connected with my inner fashion goddess and found some consistency in my style choices, I’ve also come to terms with what I like without caring if its currently trending. I’ve always believed fashion is art and recently I am beginning to see an artistic side to the outfits I put together.

Oh an learning photography has also helped me put things into perspective; I no longer ogle pictures of fashion bloggers wondering what I’m doing wrong as I now know the photography is just as important as the outfit choice.

I ordered these black chain detail brogues from Missguided and they arrived yesterday. While trying them on, I realized these are the third men inspired shoes I’ve bought in just a couple of months while crushing on so many others.

I have been teased of my boyishness several times by a certain man crush of mine. Naturally I point out my stylishness as a defense but then again I guess tom-boy style is still style *shrugs*.

I think I got in touch with my masculine side at the perfect time because men inspired shoes and even clothing are making serious waves with basically every designer jumping on the trend and adding their person touch of course.

Gladys Douglas lives in Port Harcourt and is the CEO of Gladshair. Though her hair brand slogan says “let your hair define you”, Gladys understands the importance of a slamming outfit, especially when you’re expecting to have meetings with investors.

Working with Gladys I chose outfits that were semi-formal because I didn’t want to have her looking stiff and I really wanted each one to be a bit edgy.

The main point was to find ways to recycle her wardrobe pieces as she had recently lost a lot of weight and was having trouble finding what to wear. There was actually no shopping involved, and though this broke my heart, I found the experience challenging as I had to do a lot of convincing before she could see the potential in some of her clothes which had already found their way to the trash pile.

Speaking of Gladys’ trash pile, you wont believe the goodness that I discovered…. at this point I need to state emphatically that baggy is definitely the new cool!

P.S. I’m not encouraging you to keep your oversize clothes after a weight loss because they might subconsciously motivate you to gain some weight, all I’m saying is that before you actually trash your trash pile, you might want to call me to pick out the treasures within.

My favorite outfit of the lot I picked out for her was this pair of mom jeans which i paired with an over-sized denim shirt with one of her many colorful abstract print vintage blouses, finished off with black fringed block heeled sandals and an over-sized clutch. This outfit which I nicknamed the big bang because it totally came together and popped had Gladys looking like she stepped out of an 80’s vogue magazine.

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People tend to be uneasy wearing clothes picked out by someone else, especially in a case like hers where she was very convinced they didn’t fit right so it was so exciting to see her embrace everything I picked out for her with confidence.

I guess you can already tell by now that the best part of working on Gladys’ wardrobe was all the fun we got to have as I photographed her. The outfits totally brought out her inner model as she struck a pose for my camera.

I bet she’s glad she trusted me with her wardrobe…… I know I am. I cant wait to work on the ‘Gladshair’ brand campaign.